Thursday 14 April 2011 11.52 EDT
First published on Thursday 14 April 2011 11.52 EDT

The main opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, has been hit by a rubber bullet while taking part in demonstrations against rising fuel and food prices.

Police fired rubber bullets and teargas into a crowd of demonstrators marching towards the capital, Kampala.

"Shortly after the firing began I was hit and I suspect it was a rubber bullet. I had sharp pain and [my] ring finger started bleeding," Besigye told reporters at a Kampala hospital before he was taken for treatment.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that Besigye had been shot and said officers were investigating.

The skirmish broke out after police surrounded Besigye, with some of his supporters seeking shelter in a nearby hospital who then, according to one officer, started throwing rocks at police, who responded by firing teargas.

A hospital worker in the town of Kasangati, just outside the capital, Kampala, said patients were affected and that some mothers moved sick children from their beds to escape the teargas.

Besigye was arrested on Monday, along with several members of parliament, during a similar march protesting against high fuel and food prices, which police said was illegal. He was taken away by authorities again .

Besigye is Uganda's leading opposition politician and came second in Uganda's February presidential election to Yoweri Museveni.

There were also protests in at least four other cities on Thursday. West of Kampala, in Mbarara, motorcycle taxi drivers used their bikes to block the road in protest at rising fuel and food prices. The price of a litre of petrol has increased by almost a third in Uganda over the last month.

The police branded the protests illegal and that anyone who got involved would be arrested.

Besigye's supporters chanted slogans about how the protests in Tunisia and Egypt had led to new governments. More than a dozen people were arrested.

The police spokeswoman said petrol stations had been instructed not to sell fuel in containers after police received reports that some demonstrators would try to set buildings on fire.